The bmannconsulting.com website
bmann.ca
1---
2link: https://bringyourown.computer
3tags:
4 - domains
5 - ATProtocol
6 - pds
7---
8As one often does, I needed a domain and it's a nod to [[Bring Your Own Server]] pattern I've been tracking.
9
10This is currently on a [KVM-1](https://cart.hostinger.com/pay/144f1cd7-4a92-4084-9a78-36130197e57e?_ga=GA1.3.942352702.1711283207) at [[Hostinger]] in a German data center.
11
12## Personal Data Server
13
14The main thing that this machine does is run a [[PDS]]
15
16## Updates
17
18* Nov 15th, 2024: Installed the server on Hostinger
19* Dec 31st, 2024: [[Migrating accounts to my own PDS]] (no actual changes to the server)
20* Jan 1st, 2025: Installed Tailscale as an exit node, setup [[Taildrive]] for file sharing
21* TO DO: [[Twitter Archive to your own Bluesky AT Protocol]]
22
23### Installing on Hostinger
24
25This ended up being so simple I didn't really take notes. The [[Bluesky PDS]] has a one-liner install:
26
27```
28wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bluesky-social/pds/main/installer.sh
29```
30
31The DNS was already on Cloudflare, so added the wildcard there. Here's my post right after I did it, from my newly created account:
32
33<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:lmmeta6tejj3fhn5xvzl5eoi/app.bsky.feed.post/3lazundqk4c2y" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreid7pbzyn4ezygqutyfsx64cfdt5bbt3ekne6ph23cji65rucw2xtq"><p lang="en">I installed my own PDS on a new KVM-1 from Hostinger.
34
35I had to comment out the OS version check in the installer (Ubuntu 22.04.1 messed it up).
36
37DNS on Cloudflare. Domain from Spaceship.
38
39Took like 15min total. This is easy!</p>— Boris (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lmmeta6tejj3fhn5xvzl5eoi?ref_src=embed">@boris.bringyourown.computer</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:lmmeta6tejj3fhn5xvzl5eoi/post/3lazundqk4c2y?ref_src=embed">November 15, 2024 at 6:43 PM</a></blockquote><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
40
41I took screenshots of new account creation via invite code and Bluesky Client:
42
43<blockquote class="bluesky-embed" data-bluesky-uri="at://did:plc:wn774ojgaemblghs6xduynyq/app.bsky.feed.post/3lazvnwr4ve2q" data-bluesky-cid="bafyreidb5ab6hafiznmp2mi64dsk7ddkosqquktgk433dqfedtcvtmrinu"><p lang="en">Huh. So you can, like, just create your own PDS. And invite codes. And make new accounts.<br><br><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wn774ojgaemblghs6xduynyq/post/3lazvnwr4ve2q?ref_src=embed">[image or embed]</a></p>— BringYourOwn.Computer (<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wn774ojgaemblghs6xduynyq?ref_src=embed">@computer.bringyourown.computer</a>) <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:wn774ojgaemblghs6xduynyq/post/3lazvnwr4ve2q?ref_src=embed">November 15, 2024 at 7:01 PM</a></blockquote><script async src="https://embed.bsky.app/static/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
44
45The one thing that isn't setup is email. This is the syntax from the docs, in the `/pds/pds.env:
46
47```
48PDS_EMAIL_SMTP_URL=smtps://resend:<your api key here>@smtp.resend.com:465/
49PDS_EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=admin@your.domain
50```
51
52I have a [[Mailgun]] account that I use for everything that I initially
53
54#### Email with Mailgun
55
56I [opened a github issue](https://github.com/bluesky-social/pds/issues/194#issuecomment-2567188011) and ultimately solved my own problem. URLencode the username, so %40 instead of an @ sign. I also reset the password to be a simpler one without any special characters.
57
58```
59PDS_EMAIL_SMTP_URL=smtps://username%40mail.example.com:(a password without special characters)@smtp.eu.mailgun.org:465/
60PDS_EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS=username@mail.example.com
61```
62
63Works!
64## Installing Tailscale
65
66Following the [install on ubuntu steps](https://tailscale.com/kb/1476/install-ubuntu-2404) Then, ran
67
68```
69tailscale up --advertise-exit-node
70```
71
72The idea being, can use this VPS to route traffic out of, and potentially host other things at home or office.
73
74Got this note:
75
76```
77Warning: IPv6 forwarding is disabled.
78Subnet routes and exit nodes may not work correctly.
79See https://tailscale.com/s/ip-forwarding
80Warning: UDP GRO forwarding is suboptimally configured on eth0, UDP forwarding throughput capability will increase with a configuration change.
81See https://tailscale.com/s/ethtool-config-udp-gro
82```
83
84Ran the steps at the [listed url](https://tailscale.com/s/ethtool-config-udp-gro).
85
86Also, want to backup PDS repo content using [[Taildrive]].
87
88#### Taildrive Setup
89
90I went ahead and used the give everyone access policy settings with [nodeAttr](https://tailscale.com/kb/1369/taildrive?tab=linux#add-nodeattrs-to-enable-taildrive-on-devices). That let me run this on the PDS, to share the entire PDS directory:
91
92```shell
93tailscale drive share pds /pds
94```
95
96Then, for MacOS, turn on the File Sharing GUI options:
97
98```shell
99defaults write /Users/$(whoami)/Library/Preferences/io.tailscale.ipn.macsys.plist FileSharingConfiguration show
100```
101
102Going to the Tailscale menu bar item and selecting settings, there is now a "Files" tab:
103
104
105
106To access shared folders on the Mac, you [connect to the Taildrive server with the Mac Finder's built in WebDAV support](https://tailscale.com/kb/1369/taildrive?tab=macos+gui#access-directories-shared-with-taildrive).
107
108> macOS will connect to the Taildrive WebDAV server and show a Finder window with your tailnet name as a folder. Inside that folder, Taildrive will load a folder for each device in your tailnet, and any shares that are active on the devices will appear within those folders.
109
110This all worked, but unfortunately, no "pds" folder in here! OK, well I made `altariapdsbackup` as a local Mac folder.
111
112Let's see about connecting from the other end, [from the Ubuntu PDS server](https://tailscale.com/kb/1369/taildrive?tab=linux#access-directories-shared-with-taildrive-3).
113
114Going to need to install WebDAV support: `apt-get install davfs2`
115
116Then run the mount command:
117
118```shell
119mount -t davfs http://100.100.100.100:8080 /mount/tailscale
120```
121
122Cool, it worked, I can browse to it, and yup, my Tailnet name `bmann.ca` is in there as a folder. Which is, unfortunately, empty.
123
124OK, fine, I'll go back to [actually reading the policies section again](https://tailscale.com/kb/1369/taildrive?tab=linux#define-sharing-permissions). Pasted in some more policy language, hit save, and yup! All my devices are visible, with the `pds` folder shared.
125
126
127
128I'll open up the blocks folder so we can see the blobs that are the images posted to my account:
129
130
131
132Of course, the PDS software can display blobs, so I'll just use it to embed an image directly 😂
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